Generally, devices which direct, influence, or carry fluid flow utilise a duct which has length but is round in cross section, such as water pipe; or flat sided in cross section such as many air conditioning systems. The principal difficulty with previous arrangements however, has been turbulence created within the fluid flow which reduces efficiency.
In extreme circumstances, in the case of liquids, the turbulence can result in cavitation, which not only reduces the operational efficiency of the duct but can result in inefficiencies, noise, heating, sedimentation of suspended solids, accelerated electrolysis or corrosion through oxygenation of the fluid, and destructive influences upon the structure of the duct. In cardiovascular devices such as straight-sided stents, deleterious cavitation and/or plaque deposits can occur. In adiabatic expansion devices such as steam or jet turbines, the rate of adiabatic expansion or contraction can be retarded by non optimization of the chamber geometry. This can result in significant inefficiencies.
It is an object of this invention to provide a duct which can facilitate fluid flow by reducing the degree of extraneous turbulence to which the fluid is subjected in its passage through the duct. This object is attained by providing a duct which is intended to induce fluid flow into a pattern of movement wherein the resistance to the fluid flow and turbulence to which the fluid flow is subjected are reduced.
In order to effect this object, the surfaces and/or shape of the duct are intended to provide a fluid pathway which conforms generally to the curve of a logarithmic configuration substantially or in greater part conforming to the Golden Section geometric ratio.
All fluids when moving under the forces of nature tend to move in spirals or vortices. These spirals or vortices generally comply with a three-dimensional mathematical logarithmic progression known as the Golden Section or a Fibonacci-like Progression. The invention enables fluids to move over the surfaces of the duct in their naturally preferred way in centripetal vortical rotation, thereby reducing inefficiencies created through turbulence and friction which are normally found in apparatus commonly used for carrying fluid flow.
It may be seen that the more closely a fluid pathway is configured to conform to the Golden Section, the more efficient the duct becomes. However any significant compliance, in part, to the Golden Section will result in improvement over state of the art ducts.